The Department of Health has settled a £90million lawsuit it brought against household goods and healthcare giant Reckitt Benckiser following claims it overcharged the NHS for one of its products.

The Department of Health, ten Strategic Health Authorities and 144 Primary Care Trusts in England, collectively sued Reckitts for up to £90million in an attempt to recover losses.

The department claimed Reckitt had tried to keep profiting from its indigestion treatment Gaviscon after the product’s patent had expired. It allegedly did this by promoting a new variant of the treatment, Gaviscon Advance, which was still under patent, and also of making it harder for rivals to launch their own versions of the original product.

Settlement relief: The Department of Health has settled a £90million lawsuit it brought against household goods and healthcare giant Reckitt Benckiser

A statement from the Department of Health said: ‘The Department of Health and Reckitt are pleased jointly to announce settlement of the claim brought against Reckitt in connection with the supply of Gaviscon to the NHS in England.

‘Under the terms of the settlement, Reckitt has agreed to make a payment to the Department of Health, on a full and final basis and without admission of liability to the Department of Health.’

Sales at the FTSE 100 giant rose 5 per cent to £10.04billion – the first time it has broken through the £10billion mark – but its £2.3billion pre-tax profits were 4 per cent lower than the previous year.

Chinese appetite for Durex, Dettol and Vanish helped the company’s Latin American and Pacific arm post underlying growth of 10 per cent, marking it the fastest growing division.

Reckitt has also been assessing the future of its ailing pharmaceuticals division, which saw sales fall 8 per cent to £777million.

It appointed drugs industry veteran Howard Pien to chair the division in a move analysts said could show that it was preparing to spin it off.

The division has been struggling since losing the exclusive rights to its main product, a heroin substitute drug, in 2009.

Reckitt said it would provide an update on the future of the business later in the year.